CHAPTER XIV.

SOCIETY IN THE OLD DOMINION.

How the history of tobacco has been connected with the history of liberty 174

Rapid growth of tobacco culture in Virginia 175

Legislative attempts to check it 176

Need for cheap labour 176

Indentured white servants 177

How the notion grew up in England that Virginians were descended from convicts; Defoe’s novels, a comedy by Mrs. Behn, Postlethwayt’s Dictionary, and Gentleman’s Magazine 178-180

Who were the indentured white servants 181

Redemptioners 182

Distribution of convicts 183

Prisoners of war 184

Summary 185

Careers of white freedmen 186

Representative Virginia families were not descended from white freedmen 187

Some of the freedmen became small proprietors 187

Some became “mean whites” 188, 189

Development of negro slavery; effect of the treaty of Utrecht 190

Anti-slavery sentiment in Virginia 191

Theory that negroes were non-human 192

Baptizing a slave did not work his emancipation 193

Negroes as real estate 194

Tax on slaves 194

Treatment of slaves 195, 196

Fears of insurrection 196

Cruel laws 197, 198

Free blacks a source of danger 199

Taking slaves to England; did it work their emancipation? 200

Lord Mansfield’s famous decision 201

Jefferson’s opinion of slavery 201

Immoralities incident to the system 202, 203

Classes in Virginia society 204

Huguenots in Virginia 204, 205

Influence of the rivers upon society 206

Some exports and imports 207

Some domestic industries 208

Beverley complains of his countrymen as lazy, but perhaps his reproachful tone is a little overdone 210

Absence of town life 210, 211

Futile attempts to make towns by legislation 212

The country store and its treasures 213, 214

Rivers and roads 215

Tobacco as currency 216

Effect upon crafts and trades 217

Effect upon planters’ accounts 218

Universal hospitality 219

Visit to a plantation; the negro quarter 220

Other appurtenances 221

The Great House or Home House 222

Brick and wooden houses 222, 223

House architecture 223, 224

The rooms 224

Bedrooms and their furniture 225

The dinner table; napkins and forks 226

Silver plate; wainscots and tapestry 227

The kitchen 228

The abundance of wholesome and delicious food 228, 229

The beverages, native and imported 229, 230

Smyth’s picture of the daily life on a plantation 230, 231

Very different picture given by John Mason; the mode of life at Gunston Hall 232-234

A glimpse of Mount Vernon 235

Dress of planters and their wives 236

Weddings and funerals 237

Horses and horse-racing 237-239

Fox-hunting 239

Gambling 239, 240

A rural entertainment of the olden time 240, 241

Music and musical instruments 242

The theatre and other recreations 243

Some interesting libraries 243-245

Schools and printing 245, 246

Private free schools 246

Academies and tutors 247

Convicts as tutors 248

Virginians at Oxford 249

James Madison and his tutors 250

Contrast with New England in respect of educational advantages 251

Causes of the difference 252, 253

Illustrations from the history of American intellect 254

Virginia’s historians; Robert Beverley 255

William Stith 255, 256

William Byrd 256-258

Jefferson’s notes on Virginia; McClurg’s Belles of Williamsburg; Clayton the botanist 259

Physicians, their prescriptions and charges 260

Washington’s last illness 260

Some Virginia parsons, their tricks and manners 261, 263

Free thinking; superstition and crime 264

Cruel punishments 265

Lawyers 266

A government of laws 267

Some characteristics of Maryland 267-269